Hmm.
What should I do?
I've been kidnapped...
"Hello? Is anyone nearby~?"
The Hero.
Lunacia Luna.
She raised her voice to call for help.
The kidnapper had said he was going out somewhere for a bit.
"Hello-! Is anyone nearby-! Anyone at all-!"
...
Could there be some kind of magical device in place...?
The window won't open, and the door won't budge.
It seemed this room was protected by some magical mechanism.
At least it was fortunate there was a bathroom, in a way.
Hero Luna realized she couldn't escape.
"Why is this happening to me..."
Quick to assess the situation, she sat down in the chair.
Then she slumped forward onto the desk.
The tension drained from her body.
"Kidnapped... I've been kidnapped..."
I'm just a nobody from the countryside, person A from some village.
Someone with slightly unusual hair and eye color.
Just an insignificant person like that...
"How am I supposed to be the Hero..."
He must have mistaken me for someone else.
But that person didn't seem like he was mistaken at all.
He acted and spoke as if I were definitely the Hero, absolutely the Hero.
"He's not a prophet or anything, how is that even possible- More importantly, I'm definitely not the Hero..."
Haa...
What's the point of thinking about it more?
That person has no intention of letting me go...
Luna assessed her current situation and stopped thinking further to conserve her energy.
Then, emotions poured out like a waterfall, and tears began streaming from her eyes.
"Sniff... What's... what's going to happen to me... sniff..."
Will he do violent things like in the books?
Or will I become dinner and end up in that person's stomach?
"I won't touch you."
Luna couldn't trust those words the kidnapper had said at all.
"Maybe... to give me despair... sniff... Maybe that's it... Giving me hope... then taking it away... Bad person... sniff..."
Still.
He didn't seem like someone who would lie...
But I just can't believe he won't touch me...
"I kidnapped you but won't do anything to you."
Would anyone in a kidnapped person's position believe that?
"I'd sooner trust a cat at a fish market..."
Every action has a purpose.
But the kidnapper's actions seemed to have no particular purpose.
If you kidnap someone!
You'd want money or their body or something.
It's natural to want something from the person you kidnapped.
You need a purpose to kidnap someone.
"But... that man... has nothing..."
His actions have no purpose.
Isn't that what a truly insane person would be like?
Maybe he just kidnapped me out of boredom?
Actions the Hero's mind couldn't comprehend at all.
She stopped crying and lifted herself from the desk.
"But... it's too early to give up hope..."
If I wait and endure, someone will come rescue me.
Someday I'll be able to escape from here.
The Hero regained her composure with that thought.
Her blue eyes that had been shedding tears regained their reason.
"...Someone will come rescue me! Until then... I'll maintain my sanity and endure...!"
To that crazy man's hands!
I absolutely won't submit!
Clench!
Hero Luna clenched her fist tight as if she wouldn't lose.
...Still, being alone was far too lonely.
What's this?
"My ears are kind of itchy..."
Is someone badmouthing me?
Well, there are plenty of people who would badmouth me.
A full 10 years spent in this other world.
Thinking back on what I've done during that time, there's probably a truckload of people who hate me.
"Being an adventurer doesn't always mean good things happen."
If the bulletin board only had good requests, every Tom, Dick, and Harry would become an adventurer.
The only requests that came to me, discriminated against as an otherworlder, were trash requests with bad processes or results.
Until I established myself as an adventurer in the beginning, I took on such requests, and even now I still receive such requests from time to time.
"Filthy racists."
It's all because of the Goddess.
Because of the Goddess who dropped me into this other world.
I stood in front of a small door in a dark alley.
'Minerva's Library.'
A sign written not in the other world's language, but in Korean.
I opened the door as usual and went inside.
Inside, a vast library unfolded.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it gathered all the books in this other world.
However.
"It was beautiful when I first saw it, but now it's kind of meh. Inefficient."
Is it because I've come here too many times?
Thinking of it as a bookworm's space, I don't feel any particular emotion.
I walked toward the interior of the library.
"Hoot- Hoot-"
"Oh, yeah. I'm here. Meowng."
"Hoot-! Hoot-!"
Librarian Minerva's owl.
Shortened to Meowng.
Passing by the birdbrain who gets angry when you use the shortened name, I approached the bookworm in the back.
A small girl with a cute appearance wearing round glasses and a bread-shaped hat on her head.
She was sitting in a wooden rocking chair as usual, reading a book.
"...What are you reading?"
"The story of the human Lee Jun-woo. No matter how many times I read this, I never get tired of it."
Goddess.
Minerva.
The very person who summoned me to this other world.
Even though I had arrived, she showed no sign of taking her eyes off the book.
I wedged my hand between the pages of the book.
"Stop reading. Is it fun watching someone else's dark history?"
"Hey, move. This is an important part."
"You've read it more than 10 times already. Can't you stop now?"
"Why? The more I read it, the more interesting it gets. Jun-woo, how did you feel at this moment?"
"...Still can't get through to you."
I checked the contents of the book Minerva was holding.
That's...
"Elementary school days are as fun as your early 20s. Agree?"
"...I told you to stop reading."
"But why did you confess to the girl sitting next to you? And on Pepero Day with a huge Pepero?"
"Stop! Stop talking!"
A perverted Goddess who watches someone else's dark history every day.
She was giggling at my angry expression.
"Okay, don't get mad."
"...Haa."
If she weren't a Goddess, I'd beat her up.
I'm holding back...
10 years ago.
From when I arrived in this other world until now, she and I have maintained this kind of relationship.
Always watching my story through books, laughing, and teasing.
She, who has great interest in the world called Earth, satisfies her excessive curiosity through my past.
The biggest problem is that she satisfies her curiosity by 'voyeuristically watching' me.
My dark history is no longer mine alone.
More than that...
"Minerva."
"Hm? What?"
"Don't play dumb. You know exactly why I came here, right?"
"Hmm, I'm not really sure..."
"That question. And the answer. What were you thinking when you gave that? It went too far. Kidnap the Hero?"
Originally, Minerva would play minor pranks with her questions.
But she never joked about serious matters.
Especially never about matters involving life and death.
"I think the prank about kidnapping the future Hero crossed the line. Be honest. There were other options besides kidnapping, right? It doesn't make sense that kidnapping was the only option."
"W-wait! Don't get angry... You're scary..."
"Then explain properly to me. Why I had to kidnap the Hero."
Bang-!
I struck her desk with my fist to intimidate her.
I could hear the angry flapping of the birdbrain's wings in the distance, but that wasn't very important.
"You need to properly explain the connection between not kidnapping the Hero and my life."
"O-okay... W-wait... I'm not good at explaining... Let me see... Ah! L-look at this! Then you'll understand!"
Minerva pulled out a book from the bookshelf.
The Death of Lee Jun-woo, Volume 83.
A fresh new edition released today.
I received the book from her and read it right there.
"..."
Tick. Tick.
The sound of a clock echoed through the library as I focused on the book.
Lee Jun-woo's Death series, which contained answers related to my death.
Reading the fresh Volume 83, I went through the reasons for my death one by one.
My deaths, neatly organized from reason to conclusion.
To avoid losing my life by mistake, I always made sure to check whenever a new volume came out.
After reading all of Volume 83, I closed the book neatly.
Thud.
'...This is true.'
Conclusion.
Every choice that didn't involve kidnapping the Hero led me to 'death.'
I calmed my anger and patted Minerva's head.
"...Sorry for getting angry. You're right. If I don't kidnap the Hero, I die."
"S-see! I told you...! Geez...! Not understanding the test maker's intentions! Jun-woo, you get a zero! You're a zero-point student!"
I failed to grasp the test maker's intentions.
In that sense, I'm definitely a zero-point student.
As Minerva's question indicated, if I don't kidnap the Hero, I'll die in the distant future.
The reason is...
"'Grimoire.' Those bastards know the Hero's identity."
"Right! They also know the Hero is weak."
Grimoire.
A human organization that worships the 'Demon King' that the Hero must defeat.
Somehow, they knew about the Hero's existence, which hadn't been publicly announced.
And Grimoire uses that information to kidnap the Hero.
Then they use black magic to brainwash the Hero and steal their mind.
'Their goal is the Goddess.'
To kill the Goddess.
To bring destruction to the world.
They brainwash the Hero and use them to kill me, Minerva's 'Apostle.'
All my deaths recorded in the book were by the Hero's hand.
"If I hadn't kidnapped them... the Hero would have been abducted by Grimoire."
"When the Hero is kidnapped, there's not a single way for Jun-woo to survive. You definitely die~"
"So that's why the kidnapping... Then, how long do I have to keep the Hero?"
"Until the Hero can stand alone. They need to be able to defeat those Grimoire bastards by themselves. They'll need to recruit a Hero Party too."
I nodded at Minerva's words for the first time in a while.
She was right.
Currently, the Hero was far too weak, and if I let them out like this, they would definitely be kidnapped by those Grimoire bastards.
While the Hero grew stronger, a safe space was needed, and that place was my home.
Minerva shrugged her shoulders and pressed me.
"Right! I did nothing wrong! I made the test properly! Apologize to me right now!"
"Fine, I'm sorry. But wouldn't it have been better if you hadn't played pranks all the time?"
"Wh-what?!"
"If you had properly built trust normally, I wouldn't have suspected you or gotten angry..."
"I-if you say it like that... I have nothing to say..."
Minerva deflated again.
She had the enormous duty of being a Goddess.
But honestly speaking, she wasn't godlike at all.
If I were a believer who worshipped her, I probably would have defected to another religion.
Believers shouldn't know—no, must not know—Minerva's true nature.
Anyway.
"So kidnapping the Hero is the right answer. I came to confirm that. I was also wondering how long I'd have to keep them confined."
"Hmm, really? I wonder if that's truly fortunate..."
"...Is there something more?"
"No, nothing. Just saying~"
So there is something.
But she has absolutely no intention of telling me.
Lee Jun-woo's Future series that only Minerva can read.
Having read it, Minerva giggled as if teasing me.
Since she couldn't directly tell me the future, she answered with laughter instead.
"...Then I'm going. Don't read too many books, and go to bed early."
"Okay~ Got it! Before that, one last thing, Jun-woo!"
"What?"
"Anyway! Thanks for taking responsibility and opening the Hero Party's expedition!"
"...What are you talking about? I never took responsibility for that."
I'm only planning to keep them until the Hero can face Grimoire.
What is she talking about?
The Hero's expedition will start not now, but after they've grown somewhat and the confinement ends.
Until then, I plan to be responsible for the Hero's safety.
'If the Hero falls to corruption and this world is destroyed, there's no reason for me to be here either...'
Until I return to Korea.
This world must function properly.
Through the existence called the Hero.
Leaving behind Minerva's laughter-filled voice, I left the library.
"Hoot-! Hoot-!"
"What, dude."
Ignoring the angry owl.
When I went outside, it was evening.
The sun had set and darkness had arrived.
"Already, the time..."
I should hurry back.
And so, I walked toward home without any suspicion.
The moment when I'd need to change houses because there would be more people.
Without suspecting the Goddess's last words about taking responsibility for the Hero 'Party's' expedition...